EasyJet to launch first electric aeroplane by 2019

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Flying from London to Amsterdam with zero emission? You may not have to wait much longer, at least if the cooperation of EasyJet and Wright Electric continues to progress at lightning speed. The British airline aims to launch an electric aircraft next year.

This is much faster than initially planned. When EasyJet announced their partnership with electric plane maker Wright Electric back in 2017, they were operating along a 10 year timeline, that is 2027, for electric flights having passengers on board.

Now they say they are ready to carry out the first test flights as early as next year. Wright Electric is currently developing the motor. The electric flying object will be an all-electrically propelled 9-seater aircraft. Clearly such numbers are not fit for a low cost airline such as EasyJet but it sounds like a great start.

Both EasyJet and Wright Electric uphold the aim to cover distances of 500 kilometres in about ten years with larger electric aircrafts carrying up to 150 people. This would enable them to serve said London-Amsterdam route with zero emissions or to hop over to Paris and Brussels easily.

Wright Electric is also active in other parts of the world. Only in April they agreed a deal with Jetex, a flight support company from Dubai. They are aiming for a similar range of 540 km or 333 miles, which would enable passengers to fly from Dubai to Muscat or Malaga to Casablanca on a single charge.

Moreover, Wright Electric is planning to introduce swappable batteries. At the same time, Jetex wants to use its status as fixed-base operator (FBO) to install charging infrastructure for such a plane at up to 30 airports in Europe, the United States, and throughout their network (we reported).

reuters.com

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